288 The Irish NaUiralist, 



protection has ever been given to my birds, and, as there are 

 very many kinds now in the aviary, I can exercise no par- 

 ticular control over their food, each being at liberty to indulge 

 his fancy from what is provided. I may here say, there is 

 always sufficient food placed fresh in the aviary, together with 

 clear water, at least once a day. Hemp, canary-seed, millett, 

 rape, wheat and maize are the only seeds I use ; and nothing 

 else is given except a basinful of bread soaked in milk, fresh 

 every morning, with, of course, occasional treats of groundsel, 

 chickweed, plantain, and water cress. I have never taken the 

 trouble to soak the bread in water or to squeeze out the alum, 

 as is so often insisted upon ; yet my birds are usually very 

 healthy and exhibit excellent plumage. I notice, however, 

 that bread soaked in milk is greatly preferred by all kinds of 

 birds — for all kinds eat it when fresh — to bread soaked in 

 water. I notice also that fresh water is a greater desideratum 

 than fresh food ; and birds continually alight upon the spout 

 of the can to drink while I am pouring the water into their 

 baths or drinking troughs. With regard to bathing some 

 birds are inordinately fond of it, and all enjoy it whilst the 

 water is clean. Starlings would bathe, I believe, twenty times 

 a day if you gave them fresh baths so often ; and the same 

 might be said of Bramble-finches and Missel-thrushes, though 

 Song-thrushes and Field-fares are not so persistent. Bull- 

 finches and Chaffinches, too, are fond of bathing, as are akso 

 most of the Bunting family, except the Common or Corn 

 Bunting, but I have never seen either Sparrows or Quails 

 bathe, though both kinds delight in the sand-heap as a 

 substitute. 



Of course originally I had only intended the aviary to be 

 the home of the Cockatoo ; but, principally because it was so 

 large, I began to introduce other kinds as well. Two Quails, 

 both cocks, for I have never been able to obtain a hen, were 

 purchased, and, though one killed itself against the wire the 

 first night, one still survives looking healthier and happier than 

 when I obtained it some six years ago. This bird, by the way, 

 has more than once slipped out of the aviary, whilst the door 

 was open ; but it never seems to care about going away, and 

 waits quietly outside till I finish what I am about within. 

 It often gives the well-known Quail call ; but has another 

 kind of call, similar to the crowing of a cock, that I have 



